Hollywood New Century

Dubai, Arabian Peninsula As a member of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is the second largest city after the capital Abu Dhabi, but its population and economy are more developed than Abu Dhabi.

Simon flew from Los Angeles to Dubai to experience the Arabian style. The Burj Khalifa was originally planned to stay, because there are still many places undergoing interior decoration.

Therefore, Simon stayed at the Burj Al Arab Hotel on the artificial island in the Persian Gulf, which is the famous sailing hotel, the world's first seven-star hotel according to the media.

Sunshine, beach, red wine, Simon is lounging on the beach chair under the umbrella at the moment, drinking red wine and blowing the sea breeze.

Simon is facing the Persian Gulf. This northwest extension of the Arabian Sea is indeed in great conditions. The west is the Arabian Peninsula, the east is the Iranian plateau, and the north is the Iraqi region.

The Arabian Sea, which is connected to the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, is full of oil, making the entire Arabian region live a glorious life for raising pigs.

"Catherine, why do you think the luck of the local tyrants in the Middle East is so good? Look at Dubai and Abu Dhabi, there is gold everywhere," Simon said lightly to the beautiful assistant Catherine Hills beside him.

"Pfft, boss, you already said that yesterday," Katherine Hills laughed. After all, the decoration in the sailing hotel is basically inseparable from gold, and the boss seems to despise this kind of decoration.

"We have received invitations from some investment funds here in the past two days. Do we want to attend?" Katherine Hills asked again.

Simon smiled, thought about it, and said, "Why not go, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, and even Kuwait, these are all rich countries in the Arabian Peninsula;"

"Especially in the UAE and Oman, Qatar seems to place great importance on the entertainment industry. Even if they cannot cooperate deeply, there is still a basis for cooperation in other areas."

After all, the huge Saudi Arabia doesn't even have a movie theater, and people have to go to the UAE to watch movies.

"Tonight's reception will be hosted by Sheikh Mansour, brother of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Minister of Presidential Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister, member of the Board of Directors of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which manages First Overseas Bank and the Royal Wealth Fund," Kathryn Shih said. Les gave a brief introduction.

"It turned out to be him," Simon nodded to indicate that he knew, Sheikh Mansour, the head of Abu Dhabi United Group, the big boss behind the acquisition of the Premier League Manchester City club from Thaksin.

"The chairman of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is his brother, the current UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is in charge of the management of Sheikh Mansour, who also married The daughter of the Vice President and Prime Minister of Dubai Sheikh, who last year in Forbes magazine said that his own assets are 17 billion pounds!” Catherine Hills continued to say, Sheikh Mansour, who is just 40 years old this year, is indeed rich , and the assets of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are more than one trillion US dollars.

The corner of Simon's mouth twitched. In the past few years, he has been shorting on Wall Street with foresight, investing in technology stocks, and running a film company and a record company.

How much are your current assets? There must be no more than 17 billion pounds. According to media speculation, it is about 15 billion US dollars. Simon himself is not very clear.

After all, the investment is too complicated, and many of the investments are also secretive, and Xinghai Entertainment and Nine Head Bird Capital are not listed companies. The assets are not easy to calculate, but according to the current market value, there is absolutely no 20 billion US dollars.

"Selling oil is so lucrative," Simon said, taking off his sunglasses and putting them aside, standing up and stretching,

"I'm off to jet ski!"

In the evening, Simon appeared at a business reception at the Atlantis Hotel on the artificial Palm Island in Dubai.

In addition to some people wearing traditional Arabian clothes, there are more business people wearing suits and dresses.

Women are basically female companions and assistants brought by guests, both men and women in Europe, America, and Southeast Asia.

After meeting Sheikh Mansour, the two started chatting.

"It's not just us, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and other countries have been diversifying their investments. After all, resources are always exhausted, isn't it?" Sheikh Mansour also studied in the UK before, and Simon Communication is harmonious.

However, the rich people on the Arabian Peninsula are basically pro-Western, spending a lot of money in Europe and the United States, and basically studying in Europe and the United States.

Unless it is on the opposite side of Iran, which has poor relations with the West.

"Last year was the economic crisis caused by the global financial tsunami. Now that the economy is recovering, there are still many industries that can be invested," Simon said with a smile. After all, the capital in the Middle East is basically oil resources, and the main investment is real estate and large-scale investment. Bank too.

There is no need for brains at all, with world-class capital blessing, and the sovereign wealth funds of the Middle East countries are also here.

"Nine Birds Capital seems to be investing a lot in sports now?" Sheikh Mansour just acquired the Premier League's Manchester City club, and he has studied Nine-headed Birds Capital, of course it is clear.

Simon raised his glass and Sheikh Mansour touched the quilt and said with a smile: "Finance, entertainment, sports and technology are my main businesses, and the entertainment industry is my main business, but sports is also a big market!"

"Yes, but I would like to have some cooperation with Xinghai Entertainment. Dubai, as a tourist city, still needs to be promoted," Sheikh Mansour is not very interested in film entertainment, because it is too difficult, and as a belief* **It is more difficult for a Christian Arab to have cultural cooperation with a Christian European and American.

Of course, Simon understood what Sheikh Mansour meant. Cooperation in culture and entertainment will not be forced. He hopes to help promote Dubai's reputation in the world.

And what could be easier to promote urban culture than Hollywood entertainment.

"Well, this is simple. Dubai needs to attract Hollywood producers to come here to shoot, and the promotion of movies has always been the most powerful." As for how to attract movies to Dubai for shooting, in addition to the construction of Dubai itself, of course, the more important thing is the movie Support, tax rebates, official cooperation, etc.

"However, it seems that your fund has been interested in some large investment banks?" Simon asked again.

Sheikh Mansour nodded: "We have investments in some banks in Western Europe and the United States!"

Then, last year's financial tsunami lost a lot of money, plus real estate, tsk tsk, no wonder Dubai needs Abu Dhabi to inject capital to tide over the difficulties.

Simon squinted his eyes. It seems that in the future, capital from the Middle East can be combined into the large banking and insurance industries in the United States.

Without a large bank as the capital backend, Simon would not be able to form a consortium. Isn't the consortium all relying on banks to control various industries around it? The California consortium on the west coast has long been rubbed against the ground by the Morgan consortium and the Citigroup on the east coast.